KINGSLEY EBERE
The peace accord being negotiated by the board of trustees of the Igbo Speaking Community, Lagos State, between two factional leaders, Chief Sunday Udeh and Sunday Eze, has collapsed over alleged N2m sale of FESTAC Town Ezendigbo title by Chief Udeh to Chief Prosper Chukwuka.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that Chief Sunday Udeh collected the money from Chief Prosper Chukwuemeka Chukwuka, also known as “Ogbuagu”, at his obscure office located at 6, Anjorin Street, Lawanson, Surulere, Lagos and coronated him amidst protest by notable Igbo Leaders, stakeholders and residents as the new Eze Ndigbo in FESTAC town.
After singlehandedly handing Chief Chukwuka the title of Ezendigbo, he reportedly gave the Chairman of board of trustees of Igbo Speaking Community, Chief Jonathan Nnaji and his rival, Chief Sunday Eze, the sum of N100,000 each and pocketed the rest.
This was said to have angered Chief Sunday Eze, who opted out of the peace accord and insisted that Udeh breached the peace accord by crowning Ezendigbo, while effort to make peace was going on.
Both leaders, Eze and Udeh, have gone their separate ways with their members while leaving the board of trustees members led by Chief Nnaji in dilemma having collected part of the dubious money from the Ezendigbo title from Chief Udeh.
The anticipated Igbo Speaking Community election slated to be held between Udeh and Eze on 25th November, 2023, was indefinitely suspended as each group went their separate ways.
Meanwhile, there has been knocks laced with anger against Chief Sunday Udeh following what many described as shameful debasing and distortion of the Igbo tradition and culture by commercialization the Eze Ndigbo title in diaspora, allegedly selling such title to rich fraudsters, armed robbers and drug barons for selfish reasons.
The purported crowning of Ezendigbo title on Chief Chukwuka on Sunday 12th, November, 2023, has been rejected by Ndigbo in Lagos State, who declared it null and viod and asked members of the public to disregard Chukwuka as Ezendigbo in FESTAC town.
Some of the protesting Igbo stakeholders, leaders and residents, expressed regrets over what they described as an ugly situation and explained the implications.
Among those protesting included a renowned lawyer and former President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos State, Barrister Fabian Onwuhalu, who in his statement posited thus: “The very highly respected and revered Ezendigbo has been thrown to the mud by Chief Sunday Udeh, whose turbulent and controversial tenure ends in few months. I weep for the unparalleled greed of the Igbo nation”.
While Barrister Onwuhalu, in collaboration with some Igbo residents, created a WhatsApp group in order to mobilize to stop the coronation of Chief Chukwuka as Ezendigbo in FESTAC town, Chief Udeh secretly crowned him as Ezendigbo in his office in Surulere.
Barrister Onwuhalu, in another statement said, “Chief Sunday Udeh has finally desecrated the age long traditional institution of Eze in Lagos State by installing a known notorious fraudster as Ezendigbo in FESTAC Town on 12th November, 2023, due to his insatiable appetite for ill-gotten money. The man, who was purportedly erroneously crowned in a hidden area somewhere in Lawanson area of Surulere, very far away from FESTAC town where he resides, has duped many Igbo people in FESTAC and other areas in Lagos State. He is a regular guest at various Police stations and Commands, as well as the EFCC and Anti-Fraud units in Lagos State, courtesy of his dubious ways”.
“Precisely, on my clients’ instructions I wrote petitions against the man to EFCC and the AIG FCID, Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos State, wherein he was detained recently, while the investigation is still ongoing. In fact, at Alagbon FCID, I witnessed a barrage of about ten other victims, who trooped in to be joined in the investigation” he stated.
When our correspondent tried to contact Chukwuka on the phone to comment on the matter, his phone was switched off while Chief Sunday Udeh was said to have responded that he did not know that Chukwuka had those allegations trailing him and further stated that it was still mere allegation, which has not been proved in Court.